DUSHANBE, July 28, 2015, Asia-Plus – Tajikistan’s state news agency
Khovar
yesterday posted on its website a statement by residents of the Fayzobod district in which they reportedly ask the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) to stop its activities in the district.
The statement says the IRP sows discord in Tajik society dividing people into “ours” and “strangers.”
Residents of Fayzobod stress in their statement that Islam has never been in need of political parties.
“The results of the 2015 parliamentary elections have shown that the Islamic Revival Party does not enjoy support of the population and we ask the IRP leadership to stop activities of the party in Fayzobod as soon as possible,” the statement says.
We will recall that dozens of members and heads of the Islamic Revival Party (IRP)”s regional offices on June 20 and 21 announced their departures from the IRP by way of online videos. Some cited the party”s poor performance in the March 1 parliamentary elections, which left the IRP without a seat in parliament for the first time since 2000. Others said they were disheartened by a series of sex videos involving party officials. Still others simply reasoned that there was no need for an Islamic party in Tajikistan. Many of the online announcements end with expressions of support and gratitude for the policies of President Emomali Rahmon.
Founded in October 1990, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan is the only Islamic party officially registered in former Soviet Central Asia. The IRP was registered on December 4, 1991. It was banned by the Supreme Court in June 1993 and legalized in August 1999. Its official newspaper is
Najot
(Salvation). According to some source, the IRP now has some 50,000 members.
Since 1999, the party has reportedly been the second-largest party in Tajikistan after the ruling People”s Democratic Party of Tajikistan.
In the 2005 and 2010 parliamentary elections, the IRP won two out of 63 seats in the parliament, but in the 2015 parliamentary polls the party failed to clear the 5 percent threshold needed to win parliament seats.
The party leaders said the elections were not fair and alleged fraud in vote-counting.
